Charlotte John Deere Motorsports Notes and Quotes

CONCORD, N.C. (May 28, 2000) - The Coca-Cola 600 has a long, storied
history that makes it a special event in the minds of the drivers, but
Chad Little had some extra motivation this weekend as the more than
450,000 members of the FFA drove with...

CONCORD, N.C. (May 28, 2000) - The Coca-Cola 600 has a long, storied
history that makes it a special event in the minds of the drivers, but
Chad Little had some extra motivation this weekend as the more than
450,000 members of the FFA drove with him for 600 miles.

The weeklong events began on Wednesday as qualifying took center stage
around the 1.5-mile Lowe's Motor Speedway. Little and the crew struggled
to get the car to grip the track and found themselves in the 38th-starting
position for Sunday's marathon race. Ask the 43 drivers what it takes to
win the 600-mile race and most will answer, patience and consistency.
That's what the John Deere team focused their efforts on for the remainder
of the weekend as they prepared the No. 97 Ford for long runs and
adjusting to the changing weather conditions.

With most of the practice sessions being held in the heat of the
mid-afternoon sun, finding the right setup for a race that starts under
the sun and ends under the lights poses quite a challenge for the drivers
and crew chiefs. The track temperatures will change drastically from the
start of the race until the finish, and incorporating changes that will
allow the car to be adjustable is important. Little seemed to have the
John Deere/FFA car to his liking during Saturday's Happy Hour practice
session as the team opted to run only 14 laps and posted the 11th quickest
lap time.

After the pre-race festivities concluded on Sunday, the focus was again
centered on the 43-car field and the challenge they faced. Even before
the drop of the green flag, a band of distant rain showers looked to play
a part in the race before the night was through. The green flag dropped
shortly after 6:00 p.m. EDT and the 12th Winston Cup race of the 2000
season was underway.

Little fought a loose-handling car for the start of the race, and went
down a lap to leaders on lap 64 as the first round of pit stops commenced.
Little had made his way into the top 25 before the first pit stop, but
with the race running under green-flag conditions, the ill-handling car
cost the team valuable time on the track. The first of seven caution
flags waved on lap 80, and as the 43-car field bunched together Little was
shown in the 27th position, one lap down to the leaders.

Little would pit to have the crew tighten up the car, but he would
continue to fight a loose-handling condition until the fourth pit stop on
lap 132, as the third caution flag flew. The caution period allowed the
crew some extra time in the pits and they removed a spring rubber, and
immediately the John Deere/FFA Ford took a step in the right direction.
Another spring-rubber change was made the following stop, and Little
radioed to the crew that the car's handling continued to improve. This was
good news, as the race was far from over, but the radar told a different
story as the rain was quickly approaching.

The threat of rain began to loom overhead as the midpoint of the 400-lap
approached. Little was riding in 33rd place on lap 165, but the fear that
rain could shorten the race seemed to light a fire under Little as he
climbed to 22nd place on lap 242 as the first drops of precipitation fell.
The race would be red flagged five laps later and the cars pulled on to
pit road where they would be covered and motionless. A brief rain delay
followed, but the drivers would fire the engines up again at 9:40 p.m.,
and continue to race where they had left off. Little restarted the race
in the 23rd position, two laps down to the leaders, and with 140 laps left
he knew that he would be battling the other cars two laps down for every
last point.

Little could feasible make his way to 19th before the conclusion of the
event, as the cars in positions 19th through 24th were in the same racing
situation. Little maneuvered the John Deere/FFA Ford as high as 20th when
the checkered flag flew on lap 400. Little's top-20 performance was his
seventh of the season as he advanced 18 positions from the start of the
race. Little remains in the top 20 in the Winston Cup point standings,
slipping one position to 19th, and heads to Dover Downs International
Speedway 87 points out of the top 15.

Little's Quotes

"Once again, we saved our best racing for last. We weren't sure how the
impending weather was going to affect the track conditions, and we set the
car up too loose. We tried a few minor adjustments the first couple of
pit stops, but we finally had to come in and pull one of our spring
rubbers. That really helped to get the car to stick to the track, and it
allowed us to race with some of the leaders.

"We finished the night in the top 20 and during a 600-mile race, that's no
small feat. Granted, we wanted to get the John Deere/FFA Ford in the top
10, but with some of our early problems that made it difficult. We could
have used an early caution flag, but you need to approach each race as
though it will run caution-free. This will be an important race for us in
the points because if we couldn't get the car moving in the right
direction we could have easily finished in the 30s. That says a lot about
this team, and the fight not to give up."